Introduction:
Xenns is a very well known chifi company. They have made a lot of products in the past with various degrees of succession. There have been a cult following of the original Mangird Tea for its vocals performance, the Tea 2 also have a large fan base to itself, the Xenns Up – Many favorites basshead set and the Xenns Top – the iem that’s said to take the spot of the famous Moondrop Variation. So yea, Xenns really seem to know what they’re doing.
And now, in 2024, they have released a new hybrid iem in the Mangird Tea lineup, called the
Mangird Tea Pro. It is a 2DD + 6BA hybrid, selling for 350$ on Linsoul
You can read more about it here: linsoul.com/products/xenns-mangird-tea-pro
Disclaimer: I would like to thank Linsoul for providing this iem in exchange for an honest review and impression. Everything I said in this review is my subjective opinion only.
Packaging
The box and the overall presentation of the Tea Pro is very nice and well thought out. It’s not the usual slide-to-open type of box
The content of the box includes:
- The iem themselves
- A modular 2-pin cable with 3.5mm and 4.4mm termination
- A carrying case
- 3 types of eartips
- Shirt clip
- Cleaning brush
- Some paperwork
Design/Build quality/Comfort
The Tea Pro has their shells made out of aluminum with an ergonomic design to them. The shells are a bit bigger than average.
The faceplate of the Tea Pro is GORGEOUS. It doesn’t stand out too much, yet it looks very nice. The background color is similar to that of a glitter, scattered holographic nail polish. Depending on the angle, it can shift from dark purple-ish to blue and green color. On top of that background is the word Mangird written in calligraphy style.
The iem are quite comfort to wear, even after many hours straight. The nozzles have a bit big diameter, but it’s relatively short in conjunction with the shell body, so they don’t affect the fitting overall.
Isolation is quite good to my ears, as they fit quite snuggly and can block out a lot of ambient noise.
The cable is quite nice. It’s a 2 cores cable with modular connectors for either 3.5mm or 4.4mm termination. Inside each core is 2 more separate cores. It feels soft enough, not too weighty and has very minimal memory to them.
The cable looks almost, if not fully, identical to the NiceHCK BlueLuna cable. I’m guessing that they’re coming out of the same factory.
Xenns was very generous in that they include 3 different types of eartips: 2 pairs of foam tips, 3 pairs of round, small bore silicone tips (black color) and three pairs of slightly wider bore, bulbous silicone tips (white color)
Sound impression:
Test gears
Source: Poco F3, Dell laptop
DAC/amp: Chord Mojo, EPZ TP50
Eartips: Stock white tips, Penon Liquer Orange
Cable: Stock
Driveability:
The Tea Pro is moderately easy to drive. With just a dongle like the EPZ TP50 and with its 4.4mm balanced port, I feel like the Tea Pro can already perform quite adequately. The Chord Mojo is a stronger source in comparison, but it just changes the coloration a bit compared to the TP50.
Tonality: Warm-balance
Bass:
The bass of the Tea Pro focus on subbass more than midbass. There’s quite a decent amount of subbass, but not yet near basshead amount though. Subbass reaches deep with really nice lingering decay. The subbass drop of Why So Serious have great tactility with ample air movement. The track “Chameleon” – Trentemoller also shows great dynamics, feeling very bouncy and elastic with good bass depth.
Midbass on the other hand are less emphasized in comparison to the subbass. Despite the graph showing the bass shelf getting cut off at 200hz, I don't feel much of a tuck on the Tea Pro, as compared to something like the Moondrop Variation or Truthear Zero. Kick drums feel smooth and rounded, but not quite thick and heavy. Contrabass sounds warm with good reverberation.
When listening to slower tracks or the jazz genre, the timbre and weight of the drums and bass trombone and cello are quite good, quite natural overall, despite lacking just a bit of resonance to them.
When listening to the fast bass line of “Distress Rehearsal” and “Brutal Truth – Sugar Daddy”, the 2DD can keep up quite well, but it’s not THAT easy to distinctively feel each individual hit. Like, if I turn up the volume, those hits would show themselves more, but at that point the rest of the frequency would be too overwhelming.This makes me wish there’s a bit more midbass quantity on the Tea Pro.
Mids:
The overall midrange has a nice sense of warmth to them. On the graph, the bass may look like it got cut off short before 300hz, but there’s a gentle tilt going from the bass into the midrange. Male vocals sound lush and weighty without sounding too husky when listening to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to The Moon” and Michael Buble’s “Sway”. Female vocals have a nice sense of body, forwardness and are just sparkly and lively enough. I didn’t feel any sort of harshness or shoutiness coming from either type of vocals.That being said (and this is heavily nit picky on my part), this sort of warm presentation does affect a bit of the clarity of some female vocal tracks, like with Adele’s “Set Fire to The Rain” or Celine Dion’s “All By Myself” don’t sound as pristine as i’d like.
When listening to “Shivers” - Ed Sheeran, there's a very minimal amount of sibilant spotted.
Instruments have an overall really natural timbre, with good note weight to them. With “Cold” – Jorge Mendez, piano sounds smooth, not too dense, quite pleasant overall while violin in the track “Tempest” and “Encounter” of “Blast of Tempest OST”, sounds alive and velvety, with no abrasive texture to them. When listening to “Divenire” – Ludovico Einaudi, all those instruments sound very melodious and harmonize. I don’t have much nitpick regarding the midrange instruments presentation, but I’d say it’s not the most neutral or uncolored sounding midrange out there.
Treble:
The treble of the Tea Pro is very extended with a good amount of air and brilliance. It’s very balanced in relation to the bass and midrange. The Tea Pro has an adequate amount of micro nuances without having to rely on any apparent fake boosted resolution treble peaks. It has good detail retrieval, yet not offensive sounding nor too fatiguing. Percussion instruments have an overall “smooth over crisp” characteristic. When listening to Caravan – John Wasson, cymbal crashes have good shimmering and sizzling with a decent bite to them, while hi hats sound soft and wispy, gentle yet not muted sounding.
Even though having 6BA inside of it, I didn't spot any harsh BA timbre from the Tea Pro, indicating how well Xenns has done in implementing those BA.
Technicalities
The Tea Pro have quite nice technical performance. Sounds stage has more width and height than depth. Instruments have good air and separation between them. The imaging is very precise, but the layering aren’t laser cutted and are only above average.
The perception of dynamics is quite decent when testing with the track Bubbles and Swashers by Yosi Horikawa.
Comparison:
1/ Dunu Davinci
The Davinci sells for 300$ on Hifigo.
It has a 2DD+4BA configuration – so 2BA less than the Tea Pro, with the 2DD being 2 separate DDs, one handles the subbass and the other handles the midbass, as opposed to a dual driver setup with two 8mm drivers that handle all the lower sound region.
Both iem are very well accessorized out of the box. Both have a very nice modular cable (with the Davinci’s being a bit stiffer), high quality carrying case and many different eartips
Build quality wise, the Davinci has resin housings with metal nozzles as opposed to a full metal housing of the Tea Pro. The Davinci is lighter on the ears, but its fit is subjectively worst than the Tea Pro.
Right at the first second when listening to the Tea Pro, I'm immediately reminded of the Davinci.
Both iem have a really similar tonality, which is a very warm leaning sound.
Bass quantity wise, the Tea Pro has a bit more subbass while the Davinci has a bit more midbass. Quality wise, there are some similarities between the two, but i’d say the bass of the Tea Pro is cleaner, more well controlled with less boomy and pillowy feeling to them. The sheer air volume feels more contracted/compacted.
Midrange has a warm coloration on both iem. Instruments are very natural on both iem, very smooth and pleasant overall, but the Tea Pro has a bit better texture. I’d say there are more improvements regarding the vocals, especially female vocals. Female vocals sound a bit more forward, and have more clarity on the Tea Pro. I have less of that “bass looming over the vocals” feeling with the DaVinci on the Tea Pro.
Treble is also another thing, as despite being similarly smooth, the Tea Pro gives me a bit more crispiness and micro details in the upper treble. Cymbal crashes have more shimmering and sound less dry on the Tea Pro.
Technicalities wise, the Tea Pro has similar stage reproduction, but now with a bit better imaging and separation.
So yeah, with all things considered, including the 50$ price jump, the Tea Pro feels like an incremental upgrade over the Davinci. If you have either of these iem, you can safely pass the other. But if you plan to get either one of these, I’d lean more towards the Tea Pro.
2/ ISN H60
These iem are at a similar price point to each other. The ISN H60 sells for 350$ on Penon website.
Build quality wise, the H60’s shells are made out of clear blue resin, to which you can see all the individual drivers inside.
The stock cable of the Tea Pro is better than the H60’s as it’s a modular cable, thicker and feels better in the hands
Sound wise, the H60 sounds more energetic than the Tea Pro.
For the bass, the H60 wins for the most part. The subbass is a bit more on the Tea Pro, but there’s a lot more midbass on the H60. Subbass has more air volume and feels more visceral on the Tea Pro.
Midbass punches are better defined on the H60. They feel more...contracted in a way. Bass instruments have more presence overall, fuller, transients are a bit quicker as well. The 2DD of the H60 handles those busy drums and guitar bass lines way more impressively. The Tea Pro’s midbass sounds more mellow and lighter in comparison.
The overall bass texture feels better on the H60. The decay seems to be a bit slower on the Tea Pro, with the tail notes feeling a bit more drag out. This is a preference thing as on some tracks I'd prefer that slower decay, more euphonic type of bass of the Tea Pro, while on some other tracks I'd want a more technical, faster bass notes from the H60.
The H60 has a bit thicker lower midrange, so both male and lower-pitched female vocals sound fuller, and have more lushness to their voice. That being said, the Tea Pro has more upper midrange, vocals are a touch more forward in the mix on the Tea Pro. Female soprano sounds more natural to my ears on the Tea Pro, since they have more extension up top. Instruments sound overall quite natural on both sets, but I’d say the H60 sounds more exciting, has more transparency, while the Tea Pro midrange sounds warmer and sweeter.
Treble wise, the H60 has more energy in this region. It’s spicier, more crisp sounding in a sense. There is more energy in the 5-7k region with the H60, which may pose some problems for some of you out there. Percussion instruments have more shimmering and micro details on the H60. The Tea Pro’s treble is a bit smoother, easier on the ears. It’s less fatiguing in the long run.
Technicalities wise, the H60 beat the Tea Pro in the resolution, stage width and separation, while the Tea Pro has better sense of depth and imaging.
Conclusion
I think the Tea Pro is a very nice product from Xenns. It’s a very all rounded product, with the overall box presentation, the included accessories AND the sound performance. I’d say if you have a $400 budget and are looking for a relatively balanced and warm sounding iem, with a bit more focus on the sub bass over mid bass, warm midrange and non fatiguing treble then the Tea Pro is a really viable candidate. Vice versa, if you’re looking for an iem that focuses on more midbass, has a very exciting, dynamic presentation, or iem with uncolored midrange then the Tea Pro is not a suitable option.
That’s it for my review and thank you for reading.
: Good, but with a catch
